Cognitive Science Foundations of Instruction

This volume presents and discusses current research that makes the connection between cognitive theory and instructional application. Addressing two general issues, the first set of chapters specifies the relation between cognitive theory and the development and evaluation of instruction, while the second set deals with the questions involved in understanding and assessing cognitive skills. The outstanding feature of these chapters is that they all present in-depth discussions of the theoretical issues underlying instructional decisions. Many present specific implementations that provide examples of concrete applications of theory. In addition, the settings for implementing these examples span a broad range of instructional areas and environments, illustrating the generality and transferability of the application of theory to practice.

Contents: Preface. J.W. Thomas, W.D. Rohwer,Jr., Proficient Autonomous Learning: Problems and Prospects. The Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt, Toward Integrated Curricula: Possibilities From Anchored Instruction. D. Cervone, The Role of Self-Referent Cognitions in Goal Setting, Motivation, and Performance. B. Means, Cognitive Task Analysis as a Basis for Instructional Design. G. Gabrys, A. Weiner, A. Lesgold, Learning by Problem Solving in a Coached Apprenticeship System. A.C. Graesser, N.K. Person, J. Huber, Question Asking During Tutoring and in the Design of Educational Software. S.J. Ceci, A.I. Ruiz, Inserting Context into our Thinking About Thinking: Implications for a Theory of Everyday Intelligent Behavior. A. Elstein, M. Rabinowitz, Medical Cognition: Research and Evaluation. G.A. Klein, R.R. Hoffman, Seeing the Invisible: Perceptual-Cognitive Aspects of Expertise.